If you're looking for grand, earth-shattering dreams, hopes, and plans, look elsewhere. The kind of dreams, hopes, and plans you'll find in The Great Brain are the small scale ones of childhood: the far-off prospect of boarding school, summer vacation, and a new puppy. Then there are the small-scale adult dreams, hopes, and plans about buying new appliances and opening a new business. Woven into all this, we also have Tom's dreams, hopes, and plans, which are always about how much cold, hard cash he can put in his pocket. Stay classy, Tom.
Questions About Dreams, Hopes, Plans
- What kind of dreams, hopes, and plans do the different members of the Fitzgerald family have? What does this tell you about their individual characters?
- If you were to plan a future for each of the Fitzgerald brothers, what would those futures look like? Why?
- In the novel, do characters usually achieve their plans on their own, or do they have help?
- Which plans work out? Which ones fail? What effect does this have on the course of the novel?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Tom is better at making plans than any of the adult characters.
Papa's plans tend to be impractical.